The Key to Writing Well

Today, I realized that some things are better written than spoken. Some things can be more accurately expressed by putting pen to paper than simply speaking. Things can be thought out more carefully and put more specifically. There are no interruptions when one is writing. There is no need to hurry so that the person one is speaking to doesn't get bored or impatient. There is no need to simplify the subject when one doesn't want to because one feels pressured by time and vocabulary. One can better express ideas when writing--ideas like love, hate, dislike, or friendship. Scenes like a boiling ocean or a the strike of lightening might sound stiff and formal if put into the most descriptive language verbally, but when one writes, one can use the most elegant language that one wishes to describe what they feel or see or think.

There are, of course, those gifted people who can speak exactly what they feel or see at an instant. But that doesn't mean that writing is not necessary for them. In fact, another benefit to writing is that one can learn to use words and expressions better when they speak to people. One's vocabulary will significantly broaden when one writes and tries hard to describe what they want to.

The key is this: if one wants to be a truly great writer--be it in the form of story, song, journal, blog, history, or anything else--one must read, and read well. One must be able to analyze not only their own writing, but that of other persons. One must learn to look at another's writing and ask themselves "What makes this a great piece of writing?" or, inversely, "Why is this piece of writing considered poorly composed?". But there is a caveat. If one wants to write well, one does not need to study what is poorly written. One must study what is well written. One cannot read a ten-cent novel of the pulp-fiction genre and expect the next moment to write a best-selling historical epic.

A great example of this is the story about men being trained to identify counterfeit bills. They did not study all of the counterfeits that were around, analyzing them and learning quick ways to discover if a bill was real or fake. Instead, their instructor gave each of them a real bill. They were told to study that real bill--to feel it, smell it, taste it, sleep with it... They were to become very familiar with that bill so that they wouldn't have to know all of the fakes in order to tell the real. In this manner, they were, of course, less likely to be fooled by a new fake that they had never studied.

My point is, if I have not already iterated it clearly, that one must read good books in order to become a good writer. Read acclaimed classics in the style you want to write in. Think about what makes them great, and study their techniques. I'm not saying that one should copy another person's style or technique, only that one really can learn great things from the masters. But in all of this reading, one must not forget that practice also makes perfect. One must write for oneself as well.

A great tool that has already been suggested by many others, but which truly does work, is the personal journal. It can be computerized or it can be a book that sits patiently by one's nightstand, desk, or wherever it is convenient. This journal can, of course, be public--in which case, a blog would be useful. Especially if public criticism is wanted. But a private journal, where one can vent one's own feelings and ideas and study one's self can be a great help and a great eye-opener. Some entries might bloom into public essays, or even whole books.

Most of all, one must not get discouraged about writing, or start feeling inadequate compared to people who have fine tuned their style to near perfection. One only needs practice and training in order to become a good writer, and one can train oneself. The training needed is less than one would imagine, as well. When describing things of the heart, one can look to one's own heart for the correct language and get along very well. If one is writing about facts, then one can use imagination in order to present the facts in the correct lighting of importance or humor.